Hardy_The Geography of Plants (1952)

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OSMANIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARYCall No. fT'/ ^f Accession No. 3 3


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THE GEOGRAPHYOFPLANTSUY

M. . IIARDV. P.Sc.

OXFORDAT THE CLARENDON PRESS


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Oxford University Press, Amen House, London E.C. 4GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON

BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS OAPE TOWNGeoffrey Cumberlege, Publisher to the University

FIRST PUBLISHED 1920REPRINTED 1925, 1935, 1946, 1952PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN


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PREFACEIN the preface to Dr. Marcel Hardy's Introduction toPlant Geography, Professor Herbertson wrote, * it will

be followed by a more advanced book '. This ' moreadvanced book ' is the volume now published.Many causes have contributed to delay its appearance :

the death of Professor Herbertson ; the departure of theauthor to South America; the War and. its afteripatji,which have rendered so extremely difficult everythingconnected with the publication of books : but the proofshave been fully revised, and many new photographshave been inserted.

It may be taken as in some sort an expansion ofPart III of the earlier work, since the slight ' survey ofthe continents ' given there has served as the plan forthe new book, and has been expanded into a full dis-cussion of the conditions in which plants flourish, andtheir distribution in the great geographical divisionsof the earth. An index of the plants mentioned isappended, with the scientific or popular name, as thecase may be : where the author has used a precise name,the exact equivalent is given ; where a genus only isindicated, the corresponding generic term is set down,unless some particular species is peculiarly characteristic


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iv PREFACEof the region described, when the full name of thatspecies is added.Thanks are most gratefully offered to the Belgian

Government, Professor A. W. W. Brown, Col. Coachman,Mrs. Cross, Miss Czaplicka, Mrs. Doyne, Sir S. EardleyWilmot, Mrs. Edwards, Captain C. T. Ffoulkes, Sir H. H.Johnston, M. J. Lagarde, Mr. W. Lloyd, Mr. H. M. Loucas,Mr. C. W. Mathers, Messrs. Seeley, Service & Co., theController of H.M. Ordnance Survey, Professor A.Donaldson Smith, Sir Aurel Stein, Mr. M. S. Thompson,Sir Everard Im Thurn, Mrs. Traill, Messrs. Underwoodand Underwood, the Visual Instruction Committee,Mrs. Watkins, Mr. C. M. Woodward for the loan ofphotographs from which the illustrations have beenmade, and to Miss MacMunn for most kindly readingthrough the final proof.

Miss Kirkaldy very kindly made herself responsiblefor seeing the book through the press.

OXFORD, 1920.


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CONTENTSCHAPTER I

PAGEASIA 1Tundra West Siberia Eastern Siberia Amuria, Korea,Sakhalin, Hokkaido (Yezo) Kamchatka Indo-ChinaJapan Eastern Margin of the Great Central PlateauManchuria Northern China Central China Malay Archi-pelago India The Indus Desert Iran Mesopotamia

Asia Minor Turan Turkestan Highlands KirghizSteppe - Siberian Highlands Mongolia Tibet andPamirs-Teaidam.

CHAPTER IINORTH AMERICA 75Tundra Region The Great Canadian Forest -.Great LakeRegion Appalachian Region West of the AppalachiansSouthern States -Texas -Great Staked Plain The GrassBelt The Western Mountains Interment Plateaus of thePacific California The American Deserts Lower Cali-fornia and Northern Sonora The Mexican PlateauAtlantic Lowlands of Mexico and Southern MexicoFlorida and the West Indies.

CHAPTER IIISOUTH AMERICA . 124

Central America Orinoco Wanos Guiana HighlandsGuiana Lowlands The Amazon Basin Flood Forests -Caa-guazu Brazilian Coast Forest Belt East Brazilian High-landsNorthern Portion Southern Brazil Highlands-^


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vi CONTENTSPAGE

M.itfco Oroso and West Goyaz Bolivian Llanos CbacoAlto Parana-Paraguay Paraguay and Lower ParanaMarshes Western Argentine Wastes The PampaUruguay and Entre Rios Patagonia Semi-desert SouthPatagonia Fuego The Andes Eastern Andes; TheMontana Argentine subtropical Andes Dry ArgentineCordillera Western Andes Peruvian Andes AtacamaCentral Chile -South Chilian Rain-forests Extreme Southand FuoffO Punas.

CHAPTER IVAUSTRALIA 171Northern Point of the Tableland Thornwood TropicalSavana Scrubland - The Brigalow Scrub The MalleeScrub The Mulga Scrub Great Central Desert Murray-Darling Valley and South Australia Mediterranean Por-tions of Southern Australia Savana Woods South-easternTemperate Rain-forest Northern Portion of the EasternHighlands- Tasmania New Guinea New Caledonia NewZealand Pacific Islands.

CHAPTER VAFRICA .195Mediterranean Africa- The Atlas Intermont Plateaus TheAfrican Islands Sahara Sudan Semi-Desert SudaneseSavana Futa-Jallon Egyptian Sudan- Abyssinia Abys-sino-EritreanFoot-hills Yemen - Somaliland LightForestsand Parks of Tropical Africa West African Coast : GuineaWest African Plateaus The Congo Basin Angola EastAfrican Mountain Region The Zambezi basin and Unyam-wezi Gazaland and Mozambique Boschveld HoogeveldDrakenberg -Kalahari -Damara Desert Karroo RegionThe Karroos - Southern Belt of South Africa Knysna

Forest Kaffraria Madagascar.


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CONTENTS viiPAGECHAPTER VI

EUROPE 250The Arctic Region Arctic-Alpine Tundras and FjeldsNorthern Europe Russian Steppe Hungary BalkanPeninsula Caucasia Mediterranean Iilyrian Karst PoValley Central Europe - Western Europe Atlantic Fringe

Britain.

CHAPTER VIICONCLUSION > .... 302GEOGRAPHICAL INDEX 308INDEX OF PLANT NAMES 315


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFIG. PAGE1. Physical Features of Asia 32. Mean Annual Rainfall of Asia 43. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in Asia ... 54. Mean Temperature of Asia in January reduced to sea-level 65. Mean Temperature of Asia in July reduced to sea-level . 76. Vegetation of Asia 87. Siberian Tundra (Photo : Miss Czaplicka) .... 98. The Sundarbans (Photo : Sir S. Eardley Wilmot) . . 209. A Chinese Rice-field (Photo : Underwood and Underwood) 22

10. The Manchurian Steppe and its Camps (Photo : Prof. A.Donaldson Smith) 24

11. Undergrowth of Evergreen Equatorial Forest in SolomonIslands (Photo : C. M. Woodward) . . . .33

12. A River Scene in Burma (Photo : Sir S. Eardley Wilmot) 3713. The Himalayas, from Darjiling (Photo : Visual Instruction

Committee) 4014. An Oasis in the DesertIran 4615. The Jubailah Creek Mesopotamia 5216. The Top of the Last Pass (Photo : Sir A. Stein) . .7117. Dal Lake, Kashmir (Photo : Sir A. Stein) .... 7418. Physical Features of North America 7619. Mean Annual Rainfall of North America . . . .7720. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in North America . . 7821. 22. Mean Temperature of North America in January and

July reduced to sea-level 7923. Vegetation of North America 8024. Spruce Forest on a river flat Canada (Photo : C. W.

Mathers) 8225. The Canadian Prairie (Photo : C. W. Mathers) . 9626. The prairie passing into a brush of summer-green bushesand small birches 9927. Pine Forest bordering meadow, Rocky Mountains (Photo :A. W. W. Brown) 101


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x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFIG. PAGE28. View in the Rocky Mountains, showing pines and Douglas

firs (Photo : A. W. W. Brown) 10329. Big trees in the Coastal Forests of British Columbia . 10530. Aspen Forest in Colorado (Photo : A. W. W. Brown) . 10631. Sage-brush, Colorado (Photo: A. W. W. Brown) . . 10932. A typical timbered canon in the Colorado region (Photo :

A. W. W. Brown) Ill33. Dry cereus scrub on steep slopes of a gorge Mexico

(P}u>to : A. W. W. Brown) 11534. Taxodium trees Sacromonte Amecameca (Mexico) (Photo:

A. W. W. Brown) 11835. Dry scrub and cereus-trees on arid slopes Tuland valley,

Mexico (Photo : A. W. W. Brown) . . . .12136. In a Florida Swamp (Photo : Underwood and Underwood) 12237. Undergrowth of a tidal ' bayou' in intertropical country . 12638. Physical Features of South America 12839. 40. Mean Temperature of South America in January andJuly reduced to sea-level 12941. Mean Annual Rainfall of South America .... 12942. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in South America . . 12943. Vegetation of South America 13044. Tangle of Mangrove roots at low tide British Guiana

(Photo : Sir E. Im Thurn) 13445. Swamp Forest with rgots of trees sticking out above flood

level 13746. Forest cutting - Eastern Brazil (Photo : A. W. W. Brown) 13947. Araucaria imbricafa (Chile pine) 14448. Brazilian Savana, Matto Grosso 14649. Paraguayan Forest near Guayra Falls . . . .15050. Campos in North Paraguay 15151. Subtropical Rain Forest, Paraguay 15252. Palm Grove in Corrientes, Argentina (Photo : A. W. W.

Brown) 15353. Chanar and dry cereus scrub, W. Argentina (Photo :

A. W. W. Brown) 15654. Cactus on the dry slopes of the Andes (Photo : Underwood

and Underwood) ........ 16755. A Eucalyptus-clad gorge in the mountains N.E. Australia 17256. Physical features of Australia 173


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiFIG. PAGE57. Mean Annual Rainfall of Australia 17458. Savana landscape with nucleus of a settlement . . 17559. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in Australia . . .17660. 61. Mean Temperature of Australia in January and July

reduced to sea-level 17762. Vegetation of Australia 17763. A station in the Savana Country, N. Australia . . . 18164. Savana landscape in E. Australia 18365. Gum-tree or Eucalyptus Forest in Australia . . .18466. Eucalyptus Forest cleared for wheat harvest S. Australia 18667. Savana plain and timbered slopes E. Australia . . 18768. Tree-ferns in a gully, Blue Mountains, S.E. Australia . 19069. Kauri Logs and Forest, N. Zealand 19270. Pineapple Plantation 19471. Physical Features of Africa 19672. Mean Annual Rainfall of Africa 19773. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in Africa . . .19774. Moan Temperature of Africa in January and July reduced

to sea-level . .19775. Vegetation of Africa 19876. Gorge in Mountains of Algeria (Photo: A. W. W. Brown) 20077. Atlas Cedars Algeria (Photo: A. W. W. Brown) . . 20178. Reg Desert Sinai 20679. Semi-desert Nigeria (Photo : Capt. C. Ffoulkes) . . 20980. Open Brush- Nigeria (Photo : Capt. C. Ffoulkes) . .21081. High Savana Brush- Nigeria (Photo: Capt. C. Ffoulkes) 21282. In the drier Scrubland of the Egyptian Sudan . . . 21588. Floating Blocks of Sudd (Photo: M.S.Thompson) . . 21684. The Desert near Rogel (Photo : M. S. Thompson) . . 21785. Coffee Plantation British East Africa . . . .21886. Somaliland : Characteristic Stony and Thorn Country

(Photo : Sir II. II. Johnston) 22287. Forest Vegetation, River Limbe, Nigeria .... 22588. Tropical Forest in the Congo State (Belgian Government) 22989. The King of the African Savana,, Baobab Tree . . . 23290. Railway cutting in a Tropical Forest S.E. Africa . . 233;91. Settlers in Bush Country, Zambezi 23792. The Karroo (Mrs, A. J. Edwards) 24393. Silver Trees 245


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CHAPTER IASIA

THE stupendous size and compact shape of this greatestof continents are features which by themselves are boundto exercise the strongest control on its vegetation bydetermining the climate. The centre of this vast bodyof land is so far removed from the regulating influencesof large sheets of water that it must, of necessity, be dry,extreme in climate, and barren ; and life, whether vege-table, animal, or human, must be reduced to a minimum.Asia is a land of extremes. Broadly speaking, life is dis-tributed, starting from a dead centre, in concentric beltsof increasing density. In this very general arrangement,however, the fact of its excentric symmetry with re-gard to the Equator introduces a first and fundamentalirregularity.The northern shores penetrate far into the polarcircle, while the southern coast is bathed by tropical seas.All other things being equal, such a difference in theamount of atmospheric heat is bound to be expressed bya difference in the amount and the character of life onthe two sides. The exaggeration of summer heat andwinter cold of the atmosphere over the far inland partsinitiates corresponding movements of attraction and re-pulsion of the surrounding masses of air, or, in otherwords, large cyclones and anticyclones which have beentermed monsoons : the rhythmic alternation of theseforms the pulse of that vast body. As may be expected,the inflowing summer winds are, on the whole, moistB


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2 ASIAand beneficial, while the outflowing winter winds aredry and harmful.

Again, according to their origin, the inflowing windsproduce unequal effects. Those called in from thewarm Indian and Pacific Oceans are naturally ladenwith moisture which, on cooling, is condensed over thesouthern and eastern margins of the continent, thusinducing vigorous plant life. The air from the northand east, on the other hand, easily saturated at lowtemperatures, becomes gradually warmer and drier asit rushes inland, yielding but scant moisture to the low-lying plains and plateaus. A hardy but not luxurianttype of vegetation is the expression of such climaticconditions.Another inequality arises from the situation of the

neighbouring continents of Europe and Africa, whichscreen off any moisture from the western quarters, whilethe more favoured east lies open to the beneficialinfluences of the oceans. Thus the arid centre extendswestward up to the uncertain borders of the adjacentland masses.

These broad features of the distribution of life on thesurface of Asia, by the accident of shape, size, andposition, are further emphasized by the nature of therelief. The central portions are raised thousands of feetabove sea-level in vast plateaus which are fringed byan unbroken rim of still loftier mountain ranges. Onthat account, the excessive heating of the interiorexaggerates the landward influx of air in summerwhile the intense cooling in winter adds impetus to theoutward flowing winds. The limits of the barren in-terior are drawn more sharply by the screen of highmountains surrounding them. At the same time, thelofty ranges, such as those which cross the continent


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ASIA 3from the Caspian to the Sea of Okhotsk, drain the windsof their last traces of moisture.

This moisture, deposited as spring rain or, in largeproportion, as winter snow, causes a fairly continuousline of highland oases, the more marvellous in contrast

Heights in feet above sea-level0-600600-30003000-EQOOOver 12000

FIG. 1. Physical Features of Asia.

with thesurrounding

lowland deserts. At the sametime, the snow-fed streams, before losing themselvesamong the sands of the plains, fertilize a stretch ofcountry at the foot of the mountains ; and of this alluvialbelt, even before the dawn of history, advantage wastaken by man. The influence of these lofty Asiatic

B 2


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4 ASIAchains is thus seen to be double, as being expressed inabundant summer pastures on the upper slopes, and ingardens and winter pastures on the lower slopes and theadjacent belt. Correspondingly there originates a doubleinfluence on man and animals in quest of food : lirst,a yearly migration of populations between the lowlands

FIG. 2. Mean Annual Rainfall of Asia.and the highlands, between the drought and the snow:second, larger movements of nations along the fertilepiedmont belts, which naturally became the highwaysof history, as peoples were forced by various causesto migrate, and trekked between the deserts on one handand the mountain wildernesses on the other.


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ASIA 5In brief, then, the distribution of plant life in Asia,

which, at a first glance, appears to be in widening beltsof increasing density, has to be further analysed, thenorth being poorer than the south and the west thanthe east. The south-eastern quarter is the centre ofradiation of plant life for the whole continent. Of the

o 500 IPOo Mile.o 300 1000 isoo Km.

FIG. 8. Seasonal Distribution of Rainfall in Asia,two western quarters, the northern, having more waterand less heat than the southern, is also more luxuriant.Tundra. Along the Arctic Ocean, Asia possesses an

enormous development of coast-line involving about one-third of the parallel of 70 N. This coast-line lies, onthe whole, much nearer the pole than the corresponding


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6 ASIAshores of the mainland of North America : one wouldtherefore expect to see a correspondingly greater ex-tension inland of the cold treeless desert called thetundra. As a fact, however, it is not so; the barrengrounds of North America reach much farther south,especially towards the extreme east and west, and when

JANUARYFIG. 4. Mean Temperature of Asia in January reduced to Sea-level.the coast-line advances poleward or retreats southward,the accompanying belt of tundra follows the same oscilla-tions. This broad fringe covers a low-lying undulatedland, interrupted by no high hills, but indented by wideestuaries and marshy deltas.Two main forms of tundra are recognized, the moss


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TUNDRAtundra and the lichen tundra. The moss tundra is themoister kind, and is formed of peat-hills and puddles.The peat-hills are enormous spongy cushions, built up bythe slow accumulations of gradually decomposing mosses :they are frozen inside, and have a velvety covering of

JULYFia. 5. Mean Temperature in July reduced to Sea-level.

straight-stemmed mosses, among which a few dwarfflowering plants are sometimes scattered, and in betweenthe mounds wind the marshy tracts or puddles, oftengrown over with peat-moss.The lichen tundra has a drier soil, but requires anabundance of rainfall, drizzles, mists, and atmospheric


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8 ASIAmoisture, and, when it is overgrown with low shrubs,may become a heath.Among the most curious features of these arctic land-

scapes rank the ' polygonal floors,' or floors of hardened

I

'Tundra 4>LoftyMountain dD3 Tai&a crPine Forest EMI, SteppeCool DeciduousF. Mediterranean MM. SunimerRainFMbn&oonfrEquatorial E < , rr^-^ ^FIG, 6. Vegetation of Asia.

mud with cracks arranged in polygonal patterns. Outof these slits the lines of tiny plants arise in quaintdevices not unlike fancy box edging.The monotony and desolation of the landscape are


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TUNDRA 9broken now and then by veritable gardens of gorgeousflowers which colonize the warm and well-drainedslopes exposed squarely to the rays of the low sun ofsummer. The unusual brilliancy of colour in theblossoms as well as the leaves and stems of the smallherbs in arctic and alpine regions is associated with thepresence in the plant-body of certain substances protec-tive against exposure.

FIG, 7. Siberian Tundra.

The development of peat in the marshes of the Siberiantundra, being dependent on the moisture of the air andthe length of the growing season, is not so important asmight be thought at first. Heather or ling plays butan inconspicuous part, and our common peat-moss is ofrestricted occurrence.

There is little resource for the human being in such


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10 ASIAregions. A few berries are all that man can gather,and cultivation is out of the question. Hunting andfishing are the primary occupations, but a most usefulasset is found in the reindeer, whose every part andproduct becomes precious, while it supports itself on whatlichens and mosses the tundra can supply. Man, there-fore, is obliged to follow his wild herds, which he couldnot feed in a permanent and circumscribed place ofabode.The tundra extends to the higher lands or plateauswhich stretch southward, such as those of Siverma,Yangkan, Verkhoyansk, Kolyma, and Anadyr, whichrecall the fjelds of Scandinavia.West Siberia. Between the Urals and the Yenissei,north of the fifty-fifth parallel, the land is very low andflat, rising less than 100 feet in about 600 miles. It isregularly flooded by the large rivers Ob and Irtish andtheir tributaries, which have built high banks along theircourses and thus stopped the natural drainage of thesurface waters, so that it is covered by vast and im-passable swamps, which remain frozen for six monthsof the year.The climate is uniformly cold and damp, though therainfall remains under twenty inches ; mists and fogs arefrequent, and snow lies on the ground till late in spring.Such a region is naturally the battle-ground betweenthe swamp vegetation and the forest.The tundra which surrounds the vast estuaries of theOb and Tas gradually passes into morasses of a more tem-perate type, not unlike those of Ireland and Scotland, andconsisting of peat-mosses. These freely alternate -Withswamps of reeds, rushes, and sedges, especially towardsthe south. The forest is restricted to the best-drainedrising groundsgenerally gentle swellings, and the banks


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WEST SIBERIA 11thrown up by the rivers and is thus constantly inter-sected by innumerable marshy pastures, reedy moors,and peat-bogs. The vegetation is a mosaic of forests,meadows, and swamps.

These conditions of climate and soil are only suitablefor conifers and a few hardy representatives of the broad-leaved trees, such as aspens and birches, willows, andalders. Siberian larches and spruces are the main con-stituents of these forests, the latter predominating onwet soils, and making dark, dense forests with littleundergrowth. The lighter kinds of forest afford ashelter for northern types of plants, such as andromeda,several species of small rhododendrons, &c., a few herbschiefly of the marsh-dwelling types, mosses, and ferns.

This vast extent of wooded marshes offers seriousobstacles to travelling, and can best be crossed in winter,when it is all frozen and under snow. The dampness ofthe climate makes it unpleasant, more especially onaccount of the swarms of mosquitoes, which are anunmixed nuisance. The freezing of the waterways andseas to the north renders the marketing of the timbercostly and difficult. It is only, therefore, during winterthat a few tribes of Ostiaks frequent this locality to findin it a shelter against the terrible icy gales which sweepacross the tundra, and to trap the fur-bearing animalswhen their coat is at its best. The timber as yet remainsuntouched, except on the southern margin.The human population, therefore, remains confinedto a few settlements along the main rivers, living largelyon fish, getting the timber from the forests on the banksand resorting to a local kind of agriculture, which is.however, necessarily hampered by late frosts and icymists. The backwoods and swamps are hardly evervisited by man.


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12 ASIATowards the west, the foot-hills and terraces along

the Urals rise comparatively quickly,and the vegetation

at once assumes a more varied aspect, including pinesand firs, larches and spruces, luxuriant meadows andother hill-pastures.Eastern Siberia. The country between the Ob-Yenis-sei divide and the Lena is fairly uniform. It is a lowplateau, above which tower tabular volcanic heights.East of the Lena, however, the plateau rises graduallyamid a somewhat broken landscape towards the crescent-shaped edge of the Stanovoi.Compared with western Siberia, the eastern region

is well drained, and possesses a drier and more ex-treme climate : indeed, the coldest winters and thehottest summers known on earth are to be found there,the range between the averages of the two seasonsbeing 120 F.The tundra, which covers the broad margin of theArctic Ocean, sends spurs further south, along the mostimportant ridges, similar to the fjelds of Scandinavia ;but the formation of swamps and peat-bogs is limitedhere by reason of the extreme climate, the scantyrainfall, and the good drainage, and thus the vegetationis essentially one of forests of conifers.

Beech and oak could not live here, so the differentspecies of conifers share the ground among themselves.The Scots and the arolla pine prefer the dry, sunny slopesand the lighter soils. The larch forms, on the coolerslopes and in the hollows, a light cover, which favoursthe development of a dense, often impenetrable, under-growth of shrubs and herbs. The spruce occurs mainlyin moist situations, where it forms a dark, heavy canopy,under which the ground remains almost plantless,covered with a thick mat of needles and mosses.


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EASTERN SIBERIA 13Siberian firs and stone (arolla) pines are also foundin the east.The lower vegetation differs very little from that of

northern and central Europe, indeed, a large propor-tion of the species of bushes and herbs are common toEurope and Siberia. One would find bramble and wildrose, whortle- and other berry bushes, even aconites,monkshoods, geraniums, and stately umbelliferae in thepastures and meadows, but the ling is absent.

Despite the prevalence of forests, however, tree-growth is not luxuriant. Siberian forests are stunted,and the trees, hung and padded with mosses and lichens,reach no great height or thickness, but bear theimprint of the inimical conditions of the climate.They are also confined to relatively low altitudes.Thus, on the Lena, by 64 N. they stop below 700 feet.North of that latitude, the forest growth becomesincreasingly scattered and dwarfed, pastures andmeadows, moors, and stretches of tundra filling theintervening spaces. This is a condition similar to thatin the backwoods of the northern Canadian forest, towhich this east Siberian taiga corresponds exactly.Thanks to the hot summer, coupled with a moderaterainfall, northern agriculture is possible in easternSiberia. Dairy-farming and stock-breeding find therean excellent field ; and grain crops are capable of a greatdevelopment.Amuria Korea Sakhalin Hokkaido(Yezo). This ison the whole, a mountainous region lying to the north ofthe Ilchuri-Alin and the Little Khingan, and includingthe basin of the Ussuri and the upper basin of theSungari. It consists mainly of a series of ranges andvalleys parallel with the coast-line, and contains thebroad valleys of the lower and middle Amur.


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14 ASIAThe climate may be described as cool temperate,

although winters are very hard and protracted. Therivers, especially in the northern part, are ice-bound forfour or five months in the year ; but the region, on thewhole, enjoys the benefit of the summer monsoon, whichgives it a fair rain-supply. The conditions are temperateenough to permit of the occurrence of broad-leaved, de-ciduous forests of a central and north-European type.This is essentially a timber country, and the lower forest-belt is similar to our oak and beech zones. It consistsof mixed forests, including the Mongolian oak, Man-churian kinds of walnut, hazel-nut, barberry, and vine,pines, maples, elms, lime-trees, and rowans : the Man-churian shrub dimorphanthus is freely grown in ourgardens. This broad-leaved vegetation is, however, re-stricted to valleys, lower slopes, and foot-hills. In themountains, the resinous forests naturally predominate, butthey are also of a mixed type, including larches, cedars,pines, and tsugas, with birches and aspens, and givingthe usual aspect of northern temperate mountains. Inthe broad valleys, the Amur and its tributaries flow amidluxuriant pastures of rich grass and tall herbs, amongwhich umbellifers are most remarkable.

In spite of its hard winters, Amuria is a fertile land,replete with possibilities. Cattle-breeding, dairying, andmixed farming certainly find there as promising a fieldas in eastern Canada, with which this region has muchin common : all northern cereals and green cropsaccommodate themselves to this climate. In Amuriaproper the timber is well preserved, but in lowerManchuria, the western slopes of the Sungari hills andmountains have been largely deforested by the Chinesesettlers, with the usual disastrous consequences.Though in latitude it corresponds to central Europe,


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AMURIA KOREA SAKHALIN HOKKAIDO 15Sakhalin has the same extreme climate with severe andprolonged winters, a fact due to the cold sea-currentwhich bathes its shores, and to the continental north-west winds. The island is thrown into a succession oflongitudinal valleys and ridges, and is entirely wooded,except for the floor of the valleys and the naked ridges.Here again, owing to the cold, damp, foggy atmosphereand bad natural drainage, the floor of the valleys isswampy, and peaty bogs of great depth recall the highmoors of Ireland and Scotland, indeed, the bleak coast-belt seems to be an outlier of the subarctic tundra.The Pacific slopes show the influence of the cold sea-

currents and winds in their mixed coniferous forests oflarches, pines, and spruces. Numbers of dead trees areleft standing, and the litter of dead branches, togetherwith the dense tangle of brambles, roses, and shrubs,make these forests almost impenetrable.As a contrast, at a moderate elevation, the interiorslopes, especially on the south-west, shelter a temperatevegetation of a mild character with broad-leaved forests,including walnuts, elms, maples, vines, yews, and evenbambus six feet high, with fine hydrangeas and shrubbybilberries, recalling the vegetation of Japan. Similarlya verdant park-landscape, recalling that of Amuria evenin its bogs, lies along the margins of the rivers of theinland valleys. Sakhalin proves thus to be a land ofcontrasts in its vegetation as well as in its climate.

It may remain chiefly a timber country, but it ispossible that a good drainage may remove the blanketof peat from the valleys, and open them at least tograzing and dairying industries.

Yezo, the northern island of -Japan, shares in somemeasure the conditions of south Sakhalin and theadjacent mainland, and is also densely wooded.


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16 ASIAOkhotsk Region. Beyond the edge of the east

Siberian plateaus, which extend almost to the easterncoast-line, the land sinks rapidly down to a narrowcoastal shelf, and is carved into a series of parallelridges, between which run short torrential streams.

This region naturally lies under the moderatinginfluence of the neighbouring seas, and the moist andmild winds thereof; so that the rainfall is higher herethan inland. At the same time, it is sheltered fromthe cold blasts from the interior by the edge of theStanovoi. There is, in some measure, an approximationto the climate of southern Alaska, and the vegetationincludes some of the types of plants of the Americancontinent.From the ice-fields and lichen moors of the edge of

the plateau one descends into a belt of elfin woods,formed by a dwarf variety of our European stone-pine.Lower down, the slopes are clad with prosperous anddense forests of mixed conifers, among which Americanspecies are to be found ; besides the dahurica larch thereoccur two kinds of spruces and one of tsuga fir ; butconditions are still too hard for broad-leaved trees.Only birches and alders, poplars and willows, are tobe found along the river courses ; in the undergrowththe Kamchatka rhododendron forms dense bushes.The lower valleys and the coastal shelf, lying most of

the time under the belts of cold air and mists whichsettle down from the neighbouring heights, expand intodreary, quasi-arctic swamps, in the middle of which, alongthe rivers, run ribbons of rich green pastures.Kamchatka. More desolate still is Kamchatka, whichoccupies, at the eastern extremity of Eurasia, a positioncorresponding to that of the British Isles, on the westbetween the 50th and 60th north parallels.


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KAMCHATKA 17Kamchatka, however, is swept by icy winds from

every part of the north especially by the north-eastgales. Its coast is bathed by the cold sea-currents fromBering Straits, and these give it a climate correspond-ing to that of Lapland, which it resembles in its vegeta-tion. Parallel longitudinal ridges, from which arise veryshort torrents, form the core of the peninsula.The characteristic vegetation is represented by elfinand stunted woods. Impenetrable brushes of gnarledalders and cedars clothe most of the slopes, and passupwards to dwarf elfin bushes. Between this and thenaked ridges stretch ragged carpets of alpine meadows.Birch woods, sometimes very dense, sometimes sparse,rise on the foot slopes and clothe the gentle rises betweenthe lower valleys. It is only along the streams in thesheltered valleys that a really pleasant vegetation isfound. There extend prosperous meadows, with patchesof tall umbellifers, with groves of poplars, birches, andalders, and shrubberies of rhododendrons. This opennatural park is, however, skirted by swamps, whichunite to form the barren, treeless moors of the coast.Wild sheep are to be found here, as in Alaska andColumbia. This inhospitable land, infested in summerwith mosquitoes, and lying under snow for nearly twothirds of the year, is suited for little else than sheepand cattle of the hardiest type. Agriculture is, indeed,impossible.

Indo-China. The lofty parallel ridges, separated bysteep and narrow gorges, which form the approach tosouth-eastern Tibet, diverge, fan-like, in three distinctchains : the eastern chain of Annam, the central Malaychain, which extends near the Equator, and the western-most or Arakan chain : they include the plains of Siamand Burma. Just south of the tropic, their convergence

1159.1


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18 ASIAbuilds up an uninterrupted and massive system of parallelfolds extending from Assam to Yun-nan.The entire region, except the Malay Peninsula, lieswithin the monsoon area, and is, therefore, characterizedby the annual rhythm of the dry and the wet seasons.The rainfall is abundant and the temperature typicallytropical. It is therefore to be expected that vegetation,while exhibiting tropical luxuriance, should reflect thewell-marked monsoon rhythm: this, however, is per-fectly expressed only in part of the lowlands of Siamand Burma, The landscapes which bear the stamp of themonsoon are here : (1) the savana, corresponding withthat of the Sudan and South America. It is best repre-sented on the low hinterland plateaus of Siam and Laos,and to a less degree in Burma : (2) the drier and lightertropical forests which shed their leaves in the dry season.Teak is, in eastern Asia, the typical tree of such forests :(3) the jungle, a dry and tall deciduous scrub, somethirty feet in height, which represents here the ' caatinga 1of Brazil. Besides these, and forming transitions betweenthe teak forest, the jungle, and the savana, occur count-less varieties of light tropical woods, either evergreen ordeciduous, continuous or distributed in more or lessextensive patches. In fact, a great portion of what iscalled jungle in Indo-China would be termed savana,bush-savana, tree-savana in the Sudan or Brazil.The distribution of these monsoon formations seems

to depend largely on local circumstances of soil andrelief. The teak forests are best represented in theupper inland plains and foot-hills of the Irawadi, aswell as on the marginal foot-hills of the middle Mekong.Savanas and jungles are representative of lower Burmaand the low plateau of Siam, but their development islimited both on the seaward and on the highland side


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1NDO-CHINA 19by conditions of soil and climate. In Indo-China indeedtwo main landscapes strike the eye of the traveller : therugged mass of wooded mountains through which swiftand mighty streams have carved their deep channels,and the low swamps rapidly encroaching on the sea bymeans of the colossal deposits which are spread broad-cast by the rivers when in flood. All the big rivers,Si-kiang, Song-ho, Mekong, Menam, Salwin, and Irawadi,thus create vast belts of half-emerged swamps, coveredby an inextricable network of sluggish, muddy, and ever-changing tidal waterways, like the sundarbans of theGanges. On these shaky muds have sprung into exis-tence low, gloomy, impenetrable tangles of evergreenswamp forests, corresponding to the vargem or igapiiof the Amazon, with their canopy almost resting on thewater during the monsoon period. An excess of ground-water here counterbalances the effect of the dry season.A great part of the land thus conquered by theshallow seas, is however being reclaimed by man andenclosed by levees before it has time to develop its ownvegetation. Rice-fields (or ' paddy '-fields) are planted onthe undried silt, and rivers are bordered by areca andother palms, bambu-thickets and groves of banana-trees. The luxuriance of these 'paddy-lands' is un-bounded ; areca and coco-nut palms, manjack fruit,tamarind, orange and lemon, bread-fruit, and cinnamontrees yield profuse crops. Besides rice, the land, dividedas a chess-board, gives pineapple, tobacco, indigo, cotton,and all the variety of tropical produce. The waste-landremains in the state of undrained, impassable reed-swamps, where there is an extraordinary abundance ofgame.The mountains of the interior hardly know a periodentirely devoid of rainfall, and are therefore clad withc2


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INDO-CHINA 21evergreen rain-forests. They offer, in their fastnesses,a veritable jumble of sharp ridges, precipitous slopes, anddeep gullies, hidden beneath dense and tall forests, whosedistribution is regulated by altitude. Thus the secludedvalleys support on their lower slopes regular equatorialselvas, in the clearings of which equatorial agriculture ispractised. The greater portion of the mountains, how-ever, is under rain-forests of the sub-tropical type, whichmay be characterized by tea and camellia, though on theupper slopes, oaks and pines are to be found in abun-dance, and mark temperate, even northern, conditions.In the Shan states, the plateaus of 3,000 to 5,000 feetin elevation, crossed by still higher ridges, display richgrassy expanses. Buffalo, rhinoceros, boar, tiger, deer,jungle-fowl, peacock, egrets, and snipe are still found inabundance in this broken and wild region. Thus, on thesea side, the excessive ground moisture, and in the high-lands, the atmospheric humidity, restrict the true mon-soon type of vegetation to the plains of Siam and Burma.It is even possible that the practice of grass-burning,common to all savana lands, has favoured the extensionof the jungle.

Itwould be difficult to exaggerate the importance of thissouth-east corner of Asia in the economic development ofthe world. Here, indeed, is said to be the original homeof rice, banana, and sugar-cane, three of the most uni-versally essential articles of diet : our common lemon andorange are found wild : similarly, the melon and cucumberare among the indigenous plants of this region. Spicessuch as pepper, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom, gumsas betel, &c., rubber-plants as many species of ficus,gutta-percha plants, tea-trees, camphor-wood trees, andthe valuable teak-tree, are all natives here; but theenumeration of all the economic products would be toolong.


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22 ASIAIt is hardly surprising, therefore, that civilizations of

a high order have advanced, in the past, in the inhabit-able parts of the country Cambodia, Siam, and Burma.The paddy-lands of the deltas, despite their insalubrity,are scarcely less densely peopled than the rich lands ofcentral and northern China. In the highlands, exceptfor the limited agriculture practised at the bottom of the

Fia. 9. A Chinese Rice-field.valleys, the hunter is still master of the slopes and oftheir forests.

Japan. The southern portion of Japan belongs tothe same region as central China, whilst the northernpart, or Nippon, belongs to the region of eastern Korea,and Hokkaido shares in a large measure the characteristicsof Amuria.On the whole, the main island consists of a core of


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JAPAN 23highlands or Alps, having a coastal plain or hill land ofvarying breadth.Eastern Margin of the Great Central Plateau. Theplateaus of Mongolia and Tibet are limited on the eastby the Great Khingan and the mountainous margin ofeastern Tibet. The winds, which are sucked inlandfrom the Pacific by the excessive heating of the interiorin summer, deposit much of their moisture on the easternslope ; but before reaching it, they water abundantly thehilly lands of China. The whole of this marginal regionis benefited by the wet monsoons, and is fertile. Thatthe strength and beneficial effect of the monsoons gradu-ally decrease from south to north is partly shown by thefact that the Tibetan margin, which is abundantlywatered, is ploughed by mighty rivers, whereas theKhingan escarpments, receiving only a meagre rainfall,are not deeply eroded. In winter the air is forced out-wards from the cold interior, and north-westerly winds,which are very cold and dry, sweep over the marginallands. The broad belt of lower lands, which extendsfrom 10 N. to 50 N., passes gradually from equatorial tonearly polar conditions. Equatorial conditions persistalong the deltas and marshes of the coast as far as theTropic of Cancer. Sub-tropical nature advances as faras the mouth of the Yang-tse, while the warm temperateclimate reaches to southern Korea.Manchuria is sharply limited on all sides but one by

mountains : the Khingan scarps on the west and north,the Sikhota Alin and Korean Highlands on the east andsouth. The vast rolling plain thus defined, lying at500 feet above sea-level, is too low to condense a dueproportion of the moisture of the Pacific winds on theirway from Korea to the Khingans. It is too far northto profit much by the monsoons, but in winter is swept


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24 ASIAby icy blasts from the north. It has therefore anextreme climate, with dry and intense cold in winterand sweltering heat in summer. Spring and summerrains are sometimes abundant and render the plain im-

FIG. 10. The Manchurian Steppe and its Camps.

passable. Indeed, in many respects, Manchuria deservesthe name of Eastern Gobi, which is often applied toit; but it also offers some analogies in respect of itssituation, climate and vegetation, with the low plain of


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MANCHURIA 25the lower Columbia on the Canadian border. Likethe lower Columbian district, it possesses a naturallyfertile soil ; and water, though absent from the surface,may be found generally at a depth of a few feet. Partlyon account of its scanty rainfall, which does not exceed20 inches yearly, it has remained a treeless steppe. Itpossesses a few centres of aridity, which may even berepresented by sand-deserts, and around these vegeta-tion is disposed in widening concentric belts of increasingfertility. The typical Manchurian steppe resembles thebuffalo-grass plains, offering a low and fairly continuouslevel of dry grasses, interspersed, however, with variousherbs, undershrubs, and bulbs, which flame into beautifulcolours in spring. It is doubtful, whether climate andsoil alone could account altogether for the absence oftrees and shrubs in this region, but apart from destruc-tion by the nomads, no other reason is forthcoming.There are, indeed, travellers who believe that once theMongols cease burning the steppe and begin to plough,trees will flourish everywhere, and already in the north-west corner a sort of park steppe with small round trees[nay be seen.Despite its extreme climate, Manchuria has attracted

large numbers of Chinese agricultural settlers, who are3ndeavouring to turn the country into a rich wheat andcereal land and export the crops into Russia in largequantities. Hemp, opium poppy, and tobacco are alsogrown successfully, and large portions of the plain formrich agricultural districts.

East of the Sungari the land rises, gently at first,in parallel folds, towards the Sikhota Alin highlands.There is no doubt that these hills were once clad withtimber similar to that of the Usuri basin, but, as usual,deforestation has followed in the wake of the Chinese


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26 ASIAsettlers, and the mixed forests of conifers and hard-woodtrees are now enormously reduced, and restricted tosome of the valleys : destructive floods also have arisen,and the hills have been stripped of their soil. Gradually,towards the east, with more abundant rains and a some-what less extreme climate, forest-clad slopes of a Europeantype, and fertile valleys like that of the Usuri, appear,and form a transition to the Amur-Usuri region. Thenatural wealth, both mineral and agricultural, renderthis district an important asset in the development ofeastern Asia.TheGobi-Manchuria barrier, the GreatKhingan escarp-

ment, being slightly higher, succeeds in wringing moremoisture out of the south-easterly winds. The Khinganslopes are naturally well wooded, conifers being still theoutstanding feature in forests of a European type. Muchof the timber, however, has given way to cultivation andto pastures. As might be expected, the eastern slopes ofthe chain are richer than those facing the Gobi.Northern China. Manchuria is separated from Chinaproper, west of the Gulf of Liaotung, by a broken high-land of moderate height, compressed between the Khin-gans and the sea.

In China, agriculture, continued for long centuries, hasaltered the natural appearance of the land to such anextent that the primitive aspect of the vegetation canonly be reconstructed with extreme difficulty. Despitethe severity of the winters, a fertile soil, an abundantrainfall, and an absence of protracted droughts makenorthern,China support an abundant plant life, whichnaturally would be a dense forest growth. It is possibleto see from what is actually left that this forest onceexisted and was of a northern, summer-green, broad-leaved type mixed with conifers, and so analogous to our


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XS ASIAa good many of which, by reason of their hardiness, havebeen acclimatized in Europe and are becoming familiarfeatures of our parks and gardens. Further inland,however, one sees that the flora of Amuria, similar tothat of Europe in many respects, has been carried alongthe range of the Khingans south to the Tsin-ling-shan :there oaks, hazels, birches, and conifers are to be found.

In the east of northern China is an undulating lowland,the Yellow Basin, covered with enormously thick layersof a fine, porous, and extremely rich soil of a yellowcolour, the incomparable ' yellow earth ' or loess which isdeeply furrowed by rivers and roads. No soil moresuitable for the growth of cereal crops is found any-where, and it vies with the ' black earth ' of Russia infertility. Further down the valley, arms of the riverflow above the general level of the land across thealluvial plains, and are partially and with difficulty keptwithin bounds by means of levees, hence periodicalfloods cover the region, often with the most disastrousresults.

Both the yellow belt and the delta are utilized foragricultural purposes to the fullest extent, and conse-quently support a dense population. Barley, millet,wheat, maize, cotton, tobacco, and hemp are abundantlycultivated, and yield admirable crops. As might be ex-pected, the loess belt, naturally rising above water-leveland consequently cultivated more easily, was also settledand utilized before the flood portion, which offers greaterdifficulties.

The hill-land of Shan-tung has been entirely de-forested and opened to agriculture. The hill-land westof the Gulf of Liaotung is a beautiful park, with richmeadows and patches of coniferous woods.

In a sense, the Chinese nation was cradled in the


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NORTHERN CHINA 29Yellow Valley. There it is that the Chinaman developedhis wonderful skill as an agriculturist, unsurpassed byany, stnd got those qualities of thrift, endurance, forti-tude, and perseverance which are his characteristics.

Central China. In comparison with northern China,a more equable and milder climate, with a more abundantrainfall, ranging from 40 to 60 inches yearly, and regu-larly distributed over spring, summer and autumn,together with an immunity from the cold and dry blastsfrom central Asia, are the principal features of the largeportion of China which stretches from the Tsinling-shan and the hills north of the Lower Yangtse to themountainous region of Tongking and Yun-nan.The Tsinling range establishes an effective and sharpbarrier between the Mongolian type of climate andmild and rainy central China. The steep northernslopes of the Tsinling, owing largely to deforestation,are mostly covered with a scattered bush, in which onediscovers the Mongolian representatives of oaks, birches,and conifers, and even paulownrla and catalpa. Woodsare mostly restricted to the upper valleys, and theslopes facing south are much more abundantly wateredand considerably milder. They display already the chiefcharacteristics of a moist sub-tropical climate with dwarfpalms, large ferns, bambus, and an approach to temperaterain-forests. Towards the east, however, the distinctionbetween the two regions of northern and central Chinais not so sharply drawn along the low divide betweenthe Hwang-ho and the Yangtse basins.

In respect of its climate, central China lies under verymuch the same conditions as the southernmost AtlanticStates of North America, though here the monsoon isthe great factor of plant-life. Everything points to itshaving been originally a region of extensive rain-forests


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30 ASIAof a sub-tropical, mostly evergreen character, abundantlymixed with conifers and summer-green trees ; but it isdifficult, at the present stage of intensive agriculture,dating back so many centuries, to reconstruct exactlythe original distribution of the different kinds offorests and pastures. The growing period extends overthe larger part of the year, and is hardly interruptedby a short and temperate period of rest.Bananas and similar plants, as well as the tall tropical

palms, are absent, but hardy species of palms, bambus,and ferns, even small lianas and epiphytes, and suchtrees as camphor-wood, camellias, especially tea-trees andliquidambars, are well represented. This is best seen inthe mountains in the west, which display in their forestsa magnificent profusion. Conifers of a southern type,such as gingko and cypresses (and even pines), mark thetemperate nature of the climate, of which one is furtherreminded by the presence of winter-bare trees, such aschestnuts and maples. In short, it is legitimate to picturethe primitive vegetation of central China as resemblingthat of the Alto Parand and Paraguay regions of SouthAmerica. Within such an immense area, however, strongvariations are certain to arise between the north and south,the far interior and the coast districts,between the Alps ofHupe, the low valley of the Yangtse, and the hill-landof Hunan and Kiangsi.The fact that central China is the meeting-ground ofthe northern and sub- tropical floras produces a bewilder-ing wealth of plant-life, hardly surpassed in any otherregion of the world. Separate mention should be madeof the western part, which includes Yunnan, Kwei-chou, and western Sechwan. Proceeding westward, theland becomes extremely broken. Increasingly loftiermountains attract an almost excessive rainfall, and the


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CENTRAL CHINA 31profusion of nature simply knows no bounds, whilst therapid and vast changes of elevation create an immensevariety. From the lowlands and the hill-lands, withtheir mixture of pines and palms, of camphor and otherlauraceous trees, camellias and tea, and the hangingvines of the wistaria, one passes upwards into the diffi-cult and as yet little explored mountain region. In itsforests, vegetation simply runs riot. Amid the remark-able and unsurpassed diversity of precious timber species,the gorgeous wealth of rhododendrons and azaleas, mag-nolias and bambus, fuchsias, roses and chrysanthemums,and the countless beautifully blossomed plants generallyknown to our gardeners as japonica, are found here intheir native haunts. A belt of temperate, summer-greenforests, including well-known trees, such as oaks andalders and hazels, is followed further up by denseforests of stately conifers. The alpine zone, with a largevariety of primroses and gentians, of ranunculus andanemones, far surpassing the beauty of our own alpinemeadows, extends to the line of eternal snows.As regards agriculture, the range of produce is no lessstriking: rice and cotton, mulberries and tea, poppiesand beans, wheat, maize, pulses, onions, indigo, sugar,hemp, and tobacco, furnish profuse crops under theskilled and patient labour of the Chinese. In brief, it ishard to find any portion of the earth, including Europe,where the diversity and abundance of fruits and otherproduce are greater than in central China. For thousandsof years the natives have been an essentially agriculturalpopulation and have carried their methods of cultivationto a high degree of perfection. Especially worthy ofnotice are the valley of the Yangtse, those of Hunanand Kwang-si, and the terraced region of Sechwan.

Agriculture has always remained the primary and


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32 ASIAalmost exclusive occupation of the Chinese, other indus-tries being subsidiary to it and ranking far behind itin importance. No nation has made more of, and sothoroughly appropriated, the soil : nowhere has rurallife and organization been stronger : in a way, the chiefof the state is but a glorified peasant. In no largenatural region can the influence of agriculture, andthrough it, of the geographic environment, on the modeof life, institutions, organization, morals, religion, arts,and poetry, be traced so clearly as in China.Malay Archipelago. By their situation within the

equatorial belt, the islands of south-eastern Asia:Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Celebes, and the Philippines,to which may be added the Malay Peninsula : enjoy anequable equatorial climate, with an abundant rainfalldistributed regularly throughout the year. We may,therefore, expect to find here all the profusion of tropicalnature. The equatorial selva is indeed the rule here.Only minor climatic variations, along with the nature ofthe relief and soil, determine departures from this highestand heaviest type of vegetation. All these islandspossess a skeleton of mountains, either in long barrier-ranges, as in Sumatra and Java, or in centres fromwhich chains radiate, as in Borneo. In Sumatra andJava, those ranges are high and continuous enoughto drain the bulk of the southern monsoon, and thusrender the northern slopes comparatively dry. WestJava is also moister than the eastern portion of theisland, and consequently the alternation of dry and wetperiods tells more on the vegetation. This contrast canbe traced throughout the different belts of altitudefrom the sea-shore to the tops of the mountain screens.Thus, in the west and south, the lower slopes are cladwith a heavy growth of luxuriant selva: in the east


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MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 33and north the forest type is much poorer and lighter,tending towards the leaf-shedding type of the teak or' djati ', with which it is abundantly intermixed. The

FIG. 11. Undergrowth of Evergreen Equatorial Forestin Solomon Ishxnds.

succeeding belt on the moister side consists of ever-ogreen, temperate rain-forests, not unlike those ofsouth Chili and, corresponding to the cloud-belt,


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34 ASIAcharacteristically overgrown with hanging mosses. -Onthe drier side, the middle zone is constituted by a parklandscape of grasslands interspersed with woods. Theirdominant tree is a casuarina, locally called ' tjemoro ',whose leafless and shadeless twigs have the appearance ofour humble horsetail. The ground vegetation consists ofsmall bushes with a leathery foliage, suggesting the poorground brush of a thin pine forest. Approaching thetops of the mountains, the trees and even the elfin scrubdisappear to make way for the meagre grass-lands.The well-watered plains, which are fully developedonly on the northern side, are the seat of an active agri-culture, in which tobacco and coffee predominate.

Intermont plateaus intervene frequently between thesouthern scarps and the opposite slopes : they arecovered with poor pastures.

Borneo, as a whole, is surrounded by wide coastalplains, most of which, on the Asiatic side, are coveredwith fields and fallow-lands. The central highlandsare densely wooded and, as far as has been ascertained,include a lower zone of equatorial selva and a middlebelt of temperate rain-forest carried far into the uppervalleys. Above 7,000 feet the ridges are covered withconiferous woodlands passing to elfin woods, and, athigher levels, to elfin scrub and alpine brush.The narrow plateaus which form the backbone of theCelebes display typical savanas.

It is a striking fact that the alpine vegetation of dwarfshrubs and cushion-plants, with their tiny, leathery, orwool-clad leaves, strong roots, and gorgeous displayof flowers, which are usually associated with ice andsnow, should be found here characteristically representedat comparatively low levels, under the Equator, andentirely free from snow. It is equally remarkable that


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MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 35the upper limit of forest-growth is very low as comparedwith the corresponding levels amid the continentalranges of the equatorial belt. The same phenomena arestill more forcibly exhibited in the lower South SeaIslands. They all tend to show that the strength anddryness of the winds are the real influences which limittree-growth and shape the alpine vegetation on themountains, as they do in the polar regions.To the enormous and varied resources of their islands,the Malays have greatly added by sea trade in thepast. The wealth of these populations at once agricul-tural and sea-faring was very considerable, and theirinfluence spread all over the eastern seas. To this day theMalayan islands are among the most densely populated.Mysterious ruins of truly magnificent cities testify tothe high measure of civilization reached by those peoplelong before the advent of Europeans.

India may be said to be entirely governed by themonsoon, whose effects are largely controlled by therelief of the surface : thus the area beyond its influencein the north-west is extremely arid, and the plainof the Ganges which lies open to the south-east monsoonis fairly well-watered on the whole; but the windsgradually spend their moisture on the way westward.Approached from the south-west, the semi -arid table-land of the Deccan is robbed of a large portion of itswater by the screen of the western Ghats, which thusseparates it from the luxuriant Malabar coast. Thesouthern part of the plateau, however, merely from itsgeographical position, enjoys a longer wet season thanthe northern half and is correspondingly more fertile.In the Himalayas, the eastern half is abundantly watered,while the north-western part only receives a scantybalance of the moisture.

D 2


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36 ASIAThe strong rhythm of the two seasons is thus felt

throughout the whole of India ; but on the outskirts ofthe area, along the Malabar coast, in the north-easternHimalayas, Assam, and western Burma, the period ofdrought is so short as to be practically without in-fluence. Consequently these regions are the seat ofevergreen wet forests. Throughout the rest of India,the ground is sharply contested between tree-growth andscrub ; but where tree-growth is possible, it bears thestamp of the seasonal contrast and foliage is shed duringthe dry period. The winter colds are unimportant asa factor in vegetation, except among the mountains.Central India is not, therefore, a region of continuousand dense forests, but offers a varied landscape whosetype oscillates between tropical deciduous woodlands andthe poor acacia scrub.The Ganges valley has been cultivated so long and sointensively that its original state can only be guessed at ;at present it is well-nigh treeless. Its fertility comesfrom its alluvial soil and from the abundant water-supplyafforded by its rivers, the Ganges and its tributaries,whichare utilized for irrigation. Rice, wheat, opium, indigo,and, in some parts, cotton, are the staple crops whichnow support a large population ; but it is not unlikelythat it was formerly a savana interspersed with variouskinds of rain-green woodlands.The combined delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputrapresents an aspect similar to that of the Burmese andIndo-Chinese deltas. The lower swampyalluvium,coveredby an impenetrable mixture of evergreen jungle andmangrove, have hitherto proved too strong for humanpowers, and have challenged human enterprise much asthe corresponding swamps of the Mekong.The vast table-land of the Deccan, difficult of access


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38 ASIAand seamed by deep gorges, is less than 3,000 feet high.It may be divided, broadly, into a north-west drier partand a south-eastern portion where the rainless period onlyextends over two or three months ; but the driest areastretches in a belt at the foot of the western Ghats.Much of the original character is still preserved in themixed woodlands of teak and other deciduous trees,whichhowever, do not form a continuous cover, but are inter-mingled with large expanses of semi-arid scrub. Thoughthe Deccan is said to be destitute of true ' caatinga ' forma-tion similar to what exists in South America, Africa,Australia, and Siam, it is evident that some of its deci-duous jungles and woodlands, depending upon analogousclimatic conditions and offering the same vegetativecharacters, may be classed under that type. The gorges,which the rivers have cut for themselves below the levelof the plateau, are densely wooded. A large portion ofthe dense and tall, drought-bare scrub is only newgrowth consequent upon the destruction of forests, whichis natural in a country with a comparatively dense popu-lation. Among the economic resources of the woodlandsare teak, sandal-wood and cedrela, the bastard cedar,whilst cotton is extensively grown.The escarpment known as the eastern Ghats leads onefrom the central plateau to the low and narrow coastal plainof Coromandel. This is a dry and hot, sandy tract, mostlycovered with thickets of thorny evergreen shrubs, equiva-lent to the * restinga ' formation of the Brazilian shores.The evergreen jungle, however, gives way, at the deltasof the main rivers, to fertile tracts which are suggestiveof oases.The west coast feels, to a much less degree, the

seasonal monsoon rhythm and the influence of the dryseason. The drought lasts less than two months and the


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INDIA 39atmospheric humidity continues to remain high. Ofpeninsular India, this stretch of coast-land, at most fiftymiles broad and rising in abrupt scarps at the back, isthe only one which admits of high tropical rain-forests.These forests, albeit they do not attain the luxuriance ofthe selvas of south Sumatra, display a great exuberanceand all the essential features of the typical rain-forest.The hot and wet region of Malabar is continued intosouth-western Ceylon, where the character and profusionof the equatorial belt are further emphasized, and thecoco-nut palm forests are famous.In the north-east of India, the mountain forests of theArakan-Assam system, as well as those of the south-eastern Himalayas, exhibit a wet evergreen, but distinctlysub-tropical, type, with a great wealth of forms. Theadmixture of leaf-shedding vegetation is fairly strong,and trees of a more familiar aspect, oaks, pines, andmagnolias, are abundantly represented. Here tea is asprofusely grown as in southern China. The north-easternmountainous region of India, which is also the region ofheaviest rainfall in the world, is most appropriately com-pared with the middle belt of the Montana at the headwaters of the Amazon.A cross-section cut through the south-eastern portionof the Himalayas would show a lower tropical belt,about twenty miles broad, rising from the plains to1,000 feet, of loose forests (chiefly of s&l-tree) and rich,swampy jungles and grasslands, with enormous bambusand tall palms.The sub-tropical belt, which reaches an altitude of6,500 feet,presents the wet, evergreen aspect, but includestrees of a familiar type, such as pines and live oaks,celtis, olive-trees, sumacs, and others.A temperate zone of non-coniferous, largely deciduous


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INDIA 41forest-growth, succeeded by a zone of conifers andrhododendrons, stretches up to 11,500 feet. The alpinezone of pastures and shrubberies, of screes and herbcoverings, ascends to 16,000 feet.On the north-west, the Himalayan vegetation,especially in the lower reaches, loses more and moreits sub-tropical character and profusion. In theIndus district the climate is decidedly dry, and thevegetation assumes increasingly, at least at the lowerand middle elevations, a somewhat mediterranean aspectwith stout, evergreen, round-headed, hard-leaved trees,walnuts, oaks, pines, firs, and deodars. Many of theslopes are either completely denuded or thinly dottedwith a Ioos6 evergreen scrub equivalent to the Mediter-ranean ' garigue '. , The woods are loose, often scattered,with hardly any undergrowth or ground vegetation.This district is extremely suitable for the cultivation ofmaize and wheat.The Indus Desert is really part of the vast system of

tropical deserts of the Old World and the easternmostcorner of the arid belt of the Sahara-Arabia-Persia series.The bulk of the monsoon from the Arabian seas isdeflected towards the east by the Vindhyas, leaving butan unimportant part for the plain of the Indus. Thusthe rainfall which is always irregular hardly risec aboveten inches yearly. The centre of this area is formed bythe hot desert of Thar, a low and monotonous plain, oneof the dreariest places on earth. It is approached throughconcentric belts of increasing barrenness : a main zonemay be distinguished, extending on the west to the footof the Baluchistan highlands, and on the north to thefoot of the Himalayas. This zone may be comparedwith the Somali ' nyika ', and is covered with a scatteredand herbaceous vegetation, with a thin dotting of thorny


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42 ASIAshrubs, most of which venture to assume their scantyfoliage only during the short rainy period. Amongthem may be recognized familiar denizens of the Africansemi-deserts, e.g. the Arabian acacia and the tamarix,and along the margins of the dry river-beds, fig-trees andEuphrates poplars. Oases, with palms, are to be foundin fair abundance; but the life of this area is due,and restricted, to the Indus and its tributaries, fed bymelting snows of the Himalayas, and dry most of theyear. By means of auxiliary canals and irrigationditches, the productive surface has been extended in thevicinity of the rivers, and wheat can be grown with suc-cess. In short, a parallel may be drawn between thisIndus belt and Mesopotamia ; but here the importance ofthe Himalayan snows is such that the network of riversand canals allows of a fairly dense human settlement.From prehistoric times, the immense wealth and in-finite resources of India have attracted invaders, con-querors, immigrants, adventurers, and travellers, by landand sea3 from all points of the compass. In the Deccan,the eastern slopes and plateaus came to be denselypeopled, whereas the slopes of the western Ghats, withtheir dark forests, remained comparatively uninhabited.Geographical changes have also occurred which havemoved the centres of population. There was a timewhen the Indus was a more powerful stream than itnow is, and fertilized a much vaster area of its valley.Even the Thar desert is strewn with ruins of forests,canals, and cities, testifying to its former importance.Iran is a natural region formed by a vast plateau,defended on all sides by a continuous rim of mountains :on the north by the chain of the Elburz Khorassanmerging into the Hindu Kush ; on the east by thebroken Baluchistan highlands; on the south and west


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IRAN 43by the great barrier of Zagros, rising precipitously fromthe narrow coastal shelf of the Persian Gulf.

Its, central situation in the midst of arid lands, andits girdle of lofty mountains mark it, from the first, asa very dry territory, whilst its elevation, which, in thesouth-west, is considerable, and its extra-tropical position,make it a land of extremes of heat and cold. Except inthe north-west, the yearly rainfall remains under teninches and is very unreliable. The worst feature isthe icy northern blast which sweeps unchecked across thseastern plains. Here again, therefore, the life of thecountry depends largely on the snows of the marginalmountains, and of the two chains which cross the plateau.These feed meagre streams, which dry up and lose them-selves at no great distance from the foot-hills.Under such circumstances, forest-growth is out ofquestion ; even large tracts of continuous grassland arescarce. Loose colonies of plants form the essential feature,and these are necessarily confined to isolated localitiesof limited extent, conditioned solely by the nature of'the relief and the soil. The dry winds keep the vegeta-tion low : trees require the shelter of the mountains,but low shrubs, scattered and deciduous, able to tapthe deep-seated ground-water, are best adapted to theseconditions, and with them an ephemeral flora, whichbursts forth with the occasional showery spells and thendies. Perhaps the chief characteristic of the Persianvegetation is the extraordinary wealth of thorns andprickles: about five hundred thorny plants have beencounted here, including small trees, shrubs, under-shrubs,and perennials.An important distinction must be drawn between thebroad valley of Shiraz-Isfahan, which rises like a vasthummock between the southern chain of Iran and the


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44 ASIAinterior chain of Kerman and Yezd, attaining an eleva-tion of over 4,500 feet; and the plains of Khorassan,Kuhistan, Eegistan, and northern Baluchistan which lieto the north and east. The valley stretches in a south-east to north-west direction and penetrates into the moun-tains of Armenia. It is very cold at night, and sometimescovered with snow in winter. In the centre, broad sur-faces are thinly dotted with tufts of dry, short grass,and with stunted, leafless thorn-bushes. In places thegrowth of dwarf herbs becomes almost continuous andforms a meagre steppe. During the rainy spells; how-ever, the landscape is strangely enlivened by a carpet oflow herbs with gorgeous flowers which burst forth fromthe barren soil as though by magic. This ephemeralflora of annuals is quite European in its composition andappearance.The influence of the mountain streams does not extendfar in the plains. These streams are absorbed by thesands and evaporated at no great distance from the foot-hills ; but before losing themselves, they create a fertilebelt of terraces, alluvial fans, flats and marshes wherelife is concentrated. In consequence, towns are alwaysfound in the vicinity of the mountains. In past agesthe natives developed great skill in the search for waterand the appropriation of the ground moisture, and thenecessity of walling in the gardens against the windswas early recognized. Orchards have been planted withmost of our European fruit and other deciduous trees :such as the walnut, apricot, peach and almond, plane,Euphrates poplar, &c. The gardens are renowned forthe incomparable beauty of their roses, but the topsof the trees above the sheltering walls are soon killedby the dry winds. Such vegetation is also representedin the valleys of, and in the belt around, the mountains


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IRAN 45of Kerman and Khorassan, whose limestone slopes aregenerally as porous and barren as those of Zagros.Very different is the appearance of the desolate plainswhich lie at a lower level east of Teheran and north-east

of the Kerman chain. This portion of Persia is muchpoorer in water and more extreme in climate than theplateau of Shiraz-Isfahan ; in fact, it corresponds tothe arid alfa plateaus of north-west Africa. A per-sistent and strong dry wind from the north keeps downall tree-growth and is the specific feature of the climate.Vast expanses of sand-wastes and salt-tracts are well-nigh devoid of vegetation or peopled by stragglingcolonies of salt-bushes. Other areas support a loosebrush of tamarixes. Broad stretches of rubble, especiallyin the eastern part, grow only solitary bushes, thorny,leafless, and stunted, and tufts of stiff, wiry grass.

Life is confined to the immediate margins of the riverswhich diverge from the Hindu Kush, or, again, to thevalleys of that belt of low hills which separates Kuhi-stan from Afghanistan. In the middle of the wideexpanse of barren gravel lies the oasis known as Seistan,a very rich country due to the convergence of the HinduKush rivers towards the lowest point of the relief at thefoot of the central chain of hills. Here are exhibitedthe characteristics of the northern vegetations, and agri-culture is of a northern type ; cereals and fruit-treesare profusely grown under shelter. Seistan was knownin the past as one of the granaries of central Asia, butwith increasing dryness, its limits have contracted con-siderably. Swampy tracts between the affluent riversare covered with jungles of tamarixes, similar to thoseof the Tarim desert.

Farther south, the sub-tropical character is assertedclearly in the oases, which like those of Africa and


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IRAN 47Arabia are graced by clumps of date-palms. The moun-tainous southern portion of Baluchistan and Mekrancontinues the narrow coastal shelf which stretches at thefoot of the wall of Iran. Outside the oases, the vegeta-tion is limited to poor and scattered scrubs of thorny,leafless bushes, among which the acacias are now charac-teristic.

While the high plateau of Shiraz occasionally affordsa meagre fodder to passing camels, and is pleasantlydiversified by oases, the desolate plains of Khorassanare unfit for anything. The valleys of Afghanistanradiating from the Hindu Kush are peopled by villagesdispersed along the bottoms only : the slopes are singu-larly devoid of vegetation.

In the chain of Zagros, which continues the Taurusand forms the south-western escarpment of Persia, theclimate still retains a mediterranean character but to-wards the east becomes increasingly dry. The limestonerock, by its sheer slopes and the porous nature of itsrubble, adds greatly to the aridity of the country. Inmany respects the Zagros chain strongly recalls thebarren region of the Illyrian Karst. Most of the steepslopes are entirely denuded ; and it is only on the ter-races and in the depths of the secluded longitudinaltroughs, sheltered from winds and favoured by localaccumulations of ground-water, that vegetation appears.The live oak and other evergreen, hard-leaved trees andshrubs give it a decidedly mediterranean stamp. Looseformations of low shrubs fringe the valleys on the gentlelower slopes; at times there is enough water to allowthe trees to close in and even to crowd as light woods.Frequently, indeed, these secluded troughs and terracesreveal a veritable luxuriance in their fruitful orchardsof olive, apricot, apple, peach, almond, pomegranate,


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48 ASIAwalnut, and other trees. Cereals, especially wheat andmaize, are grown with the best results. Cypresses andplane-trees add to the unexpected beauty of the moun-tain oases. In addition, meadows are often found inthese remote hollows ; they are sufficient to supportthe herds of the nomads in their yearly migrations fromthe winter grazing grounds of the lowland to the summermountain pastures : but, as a rule, the limestone rock,with its fissures and its stony wastes, is too dry forcontinuous swards of grass. This mediterranean karstvegetation, concealed on the terraces and in the valleysof the Zagros margin, stops at the Straits of Ormuz.

Briefly, then, the roughly triangular plateau of Irandefined by the Elburz and Khorassan chains in the north,the Zagros-Mekran-Baluchistan ranges in the south, andthe Baluchistan mountains in the east, falls into quitetypical regions ; the lofty valley of Isfahan-Shiraz, thelower and drier salt depressions ofKhorassan-Afghanistanto the north-east, the dry and rocky semi-tropical hillytract of Baluchistan in the south-east, the karst-likerange of the Zagros on the south-west, and the desertcoastal shelf of the Persian Gulf. Local names connotesome of the distinct types of regional vegetation : thus' dschaengael ' whence the name jungle has arisenclearly designates loose scrub-land and also scatteredwood : ' saerhadd ' ^ connotes the elevated summer-pas-tures.

Agriculture in Persia is necessarily restricted to veryfew and limited localities, the largest cultivated areabeing found in the trough of Seistan. The main wealthlies in fruit-trees, many of which are undoubtedly indi-genous. Several plants of economic value are foundwild, such as the pomegranate, the fig-tree, and thewhite mulberry; the mountain pastures support sheep,


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IRAN 49which give valuable wool: hence two important indus-tries are those of silk and wool rugs. Here, again, thealternate availability of lowland and highland pasturesdrives the shepherd regularly from one to the other, andcauses nomadism.Of the northern chain of Iran and the declivities

which face Turan, mention has been made already.Towards the Caspian, the rain-bearing winds becomemore generous, and that part of the Elburz which liesalong the southern margin of the Caspian is fairly abun-dantly watered: hence the sharp line drawn betweenthe northern and southern slopes of the chain; whilethe Persian side is arid, the Caspian side is well-wooded.The tree-growth is decidedly of northern temperate,winter-bare type, with a rich variety of species, andhere occurs the easternmost limit of our common beech.The plane-tree, the walnut, the ash, the hornbeam, severalkinds of oaks, maples, and poplars, and, in addition, thestately zelkova, compose the forests, which, to our eyes,would thus have quite a familiar aspect. A character-istic shrub is the box, which forms almost exclusivescrub at higher levels in the centre of the range. Thewinter appearance of the Caspian forests, with bare trees,and snow lying on the ground, differs very little fromthat of the mountain-forests of central and easternEurope ; the ground vegetation in summer reveals plantsequally familiar to us : in short, the southern margin ofthe Caspian is in striking contrast with its drier sur-roundings.Iran is in the belt of lands which have beengradually drying up. Life has always been more con-centrated in the elevated plain of Shiraz and Isfahan,tod in the north-west corner towards Armenia. TheIranians were early devoted to agriculture, which they


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50 ASIAindeed raised to a sort of religion: they were amongthe first users, if they have not been, as they claim, theactual inventors, of the plough and of the windmill : theirskill in discovering and utilizing water was famous.The empires which successively arose and declined thereexercised their influence far eastward on China andIndia, westward on Europe, and made the most valuablecontributions to civilization.

Mesopotamia. Under this term is here included theregion which extends along the foot of the Zagros fromthe Straits of Ormuz to the highlands of the Euphrates :bounded on the west by the escarpment of the Syriandesert,' it includes the middle and lower valleys ofthe Euphrates and Tigris. The climate may be bestcompared to that of the Mediterranean, but with accen-tuated heat and drought; the winter is comparativelymilder, but not so rainy as in the Mediterranean; thesummers are dry and scorching.The great feature of this region, however, is the back-ground of limestone highlands, which prove to be thesource of its fertility. The relatively abundant water,which falls on the northern and north-eastern moun-tains, sinks rapidly to a lower level, and feeds the twomain rivers, Euphrates and Tigris. It further washesdown from the mountains a rich calcareous silt, whichis deposited in the plain, and renders its soil extremelyfertile, while, at the same time, these alluvia are periodi-cally flooded by the water from the melting snow. Vastmarshes are thus created on the level tracts, but theground-water is never very deep.

All these circumstances compensate for the drynessof the climate : the rainfall which remains under teninches, is irregular and limited to the winter months.In these plains, vegetation naturally depends on the


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MESOPOTAMIA 51amount of water in and on the soil, more than onthe atmospheric humidity : the topography and the soilentirely control the character of the natural vegetation.

Where, for geological and topographical reasons, thelevel of the ground-water is deep, the vegetation, entirelydependent upon the climate, is extremely scanty, low,and stunted, even of a desert type, consisting of a verythin dotting of bare, thorny, gnarled bushes, intermixedwith tufts of dry, stiff grass : indeed, the aspect is then tobe compared either with that of the barren Atlas plateausor with that of the rubble of Baluchistan. This drearylandscape is only brightened in winter and spring, whenshowers determine the germination of the millions ofseeds lying dormant in the sand, thus suddenly called toextremely activje and short life. The Garmsir is indeedthe land of ' ephemeral' plants, which impart to the land-scape an indescribable beauty. Large tracts, however,keep their fertility for a longer time, owing to the reten-tiveness of the soil and to the presence of water nearthe surface. In this case, vast meadows are createdwhich also benefit by the snow-fed floods of spring, andpass into steppes on the higher ground as do those ofupper Mesopotamia.Of the tracts depending entirely on ground-water,the date-palm is the characteristic tree: it marks theirrigated ground and the banks of rivers and canals.Its growth is encouraged by the natives on account ofits valuable products; every part of it becomes useful.Under its shade are found admirably cultivated gardensand fields where fruit-trees, from coffee and vine topeach, almond, and fig, are grown; wheat and maize,millet, tobacco, rice, cotton, and hemp also yield profusecrops.The ranges of hills which rise isolated in upper Meso-E 2


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52 ASIApotamia exhibit a marked mediterranean character:live oaks and fig-trees are to be found everywhere,but man has reduced most of the original woods whichclad their slopes to the condition of the evergreenscrub known in the Mediterranean as 'maquis' and' garigues '.Upper Mesopotamia deserves a special mention here.On account of its hilly nature, it lies in a zone

FIG. 15. The Jubailah Creek Mesopotamia.Date-palms on the left.

of more abundant rainfall, not exceeding 20 inchesyearly, and mainly limited to winter. This hinterlandis indeed entirely mediterranean in respect of its climateand vegetation. It is bounded on the north by theArmenian Taurus, and sinks, on the south, to the levelof the lowland by an escarpment giving the impressionof hills.

This piedmont terrace, the centre of which is Diar-bekir, was originally the land of the live oak and the


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MESOPOTAMIA 53fig-tree, but is now laid under fields of maize, wheat,tobacco, and rice, fruit orchards, olive- and vineyards.It is continued on the south-east by the foot-hills andfoot-terraces of the Zagros chain.The part of the Garmsir which forms the shelf ofZagros to the Persian Gulf is arid and scorching. Thevicinity of the mountains, however, determines theformation of numerous water points, which are so manydate-palm oases, each a nucleus for a village.

- The past fertility of Mesopotamia, with its ' garden ofEden', was due to the utilization of the waters of thetwin rivers Tigris and Euphrates by means of irrigationcanals and ditches, and to careful drainage, which formedone of the most admirable engineering works the worldhas ever seen. On these were founded the powerful civi-lizations which succeeded each other in the course ofcenturies, with their countless cities and their all-impor-tant influence upon the history of mankind. It is nowproposed to restore the irrigation systems and thus toopen a new future to Mesopotamia.

Asia Minor is a vast and irregular plateau, with anaverage height of over 3,000 feet, and encircled by moun-tains. In the west, it opens by broad valleys to theMediterranean ; on the east, it is bounded by the com-plicated mountainous region of Armenia. The mountain-chains which cross, the plateau, like the other features ofthe relief and the bounding walls on the north and south,are directed mainly east and west. The mountain-rimson the north, west, and south deprive the centre of Ana-tolia of most of the climatic advantages which wouldaccrue from its position in the midst of the great inlandseas. Bereft of rains and of the regulating influenceof large sheets of water, the high plateau is arid andextreme in its climate. Its irregular rainfall is limited


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54 ASIAto less than ten inches, the bulk of which falls in winter,partly in the form of snow. On account of this and ofthe altitude, the atmospheric moisture is extremely low.The main portion of the plateau is treeless and barren.Even for large compact masses of shrub-lands and forpermanent and continuous exp

Documents

Hardy_The Geography of Plants (1952)